Brave Warriors move up in Fifa rankings

11 Aug 2017 16:20pm

WINDHOEK, 11 AUG (NAMPA)  The Brave Warriors moved up 20 places on the International Federation of Football Associations (Fifa) world rankings released on Thursday.
Following Julys drop from position 94 in June to 156th, the national team is now ranked 136th globally and 39th in Africa.
This follows their participation in the Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup in July, when they lost in the Plate Final to South Africa, and their subsequent win over Zimbabwe in a two-legged African Nations Championship (Chan) second-round qualifier.
Speaking to Nampa on Thursday, Coach Ricardo Mannetti repeated his call for the national team to play more games to improve their rankings.
We need to understand that as long as we do not play games on Fifa days, we will get a negative ranking like we did in July. Other teams will continue playing games; win or lose they gain game time points, while we are sitting idle, Mannetti said.
He called on fans to understand the national team must be kept active, instead of waiting for Cosafa, Chan, Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers.
Most teams usually play two games in a Fifa week, and this allows them to always gain points.
For us as Namibia, 10 games minimum for the national team a year should be enough to keep us busy. It also helps us test and incorporate new players who normally do not get to play, he said.
Mannetti added that it also helps keep the countrys ranking respectable, while giving players valuable experience in international matches.
There are six Fifa dates left for 2017 - two days apiece for the months of September, October and November.
If we do not play any match during these dates, then this means we are six games behind other teams, Mannetti reasoned.
He further called on Brave Warriors supporters to understand the ranking system before blaming the coach or the players when the rankings are bad.
The next rankings are due early September.
(NAMPA)
KM/AS/ND